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Forum:Copyright Issues
I'm merely raising this issue in response to a couple of replies that I've made about licensing information and copyright. I write content (both the written word and computer software) as a profession, and as such I take copyright licensing issues very seriously. Simply put, it is illegal to use the copyrighted content of others without their permission. If it is something you, yourself, have created, you can also give permission for it to be used... such as typing in some text here on this wiki that you actually wrote and is original. Part of this post here is to see just how serious the rest of this community wants to be about copyright. I am not talking "terms of service" issues here or what Jagex may or may not like to have posted about this or any other game, but sticking strictly with copyright issues alone. There is a term called fair-use that allows somebody to take the text, music, or images that have been created by somebody else and then in turn be able to use that content in another context other than how it was originally being used. There are some very clearly defined restricted applications for fair-use (also called fair-dealing by many European countries). The two possible exceptions that apply on this wiki is for instruction (generally it doesn't apply on a wiki), and for critical commentary. In other words, you can use the image or quote to help illustrate whatever it is that you are talking about, such as pulling up the image of Huang Feihu by displaying File:Huang Feihu.jpg. This is indeed permissible fair-use. Also, in order to publish something like this you must not be directly competing with the copyright holder. Using fair-use images in signatures is technically illegal, as it isn't critical commentary and it is only being used for decorative purposes that have nothing to do with describing the image or offering objective criticism of that image. Fair use is a very tricky issue to work with, and that is why some wiki communities avoid the whole issue by simply banning it altogether and being "pure" in terms of making sure all images have explicit licensing for being used on that wiki. In the context of a gaming wiki, I think that such a policy is almost impossible to enforce, as that would require all images be generated by the local wiki community. Imagine if all images on the Runescape Wiki had to be actually rendered by the RS Wiki community, and I think you would find that almost no images would even be used. Even so, we should be careful on how we skate close to the edge of the law here. Most of the images that we have on this wiki have been given out as sort of a press-release so far, where it is expected that these images will be republished in some form. Screen captures from the game to help illustrate the article and explain how to play the game is legal, but we must be careful about how far we go on reuse of those images. 99% of the images on the RS Wiki are illegal to move here because this isn't about Runescape and we are not using those images for critical commentary about game elements of Runescape. The same can be said about Fun Orb or Stellar Dawn. What I'm looking for here is a general policy that we are going to respect copyright, and that images which are not being used for legitimate fair-use purposes can and should be deleted. This is not contrary to the "personal images" issue we already addressed, as it certainly is legitimate fair-use to post an image of your character or "village" on your user page and describe that village in that context. If you want to have images with decorative elements, they must come from some place like the Wikimedia Commons if you are to be legal. Those images can be used, with permission, to be placed as decorative elements in something like a signature. --Robert Horning 20:11, January 12, 2010 (UTC) :Hmm I think that we should be fairly strict about the fair use when uploading pictures. I don't really get what your saying about the signatures though. Do you mean that people can upload images to their photobucket and then use them in signatures? Such as the snowballs being from runescape, so they aren't allowed? 22:30, January 12, 2010 (UTC) ::I think having a copyright policy is a good thing. I do wonder how much we will need to rely on Fair-Use though - Jagex allow fan-sites to use their images as long as they are credited to Jagex, and aren't used to promote rule-breaking. (See this page on RuneScape.) I believe the same guidelines apply for FunOrb fansites, and assume for any other Jagex fansite. Quartic ~ insanity is a virtue | Talk 22:43, January 12, 2010 (UTC) In regards to signatures, all I'm saying is that any images used in signatures must be either generated by the user, or be images for which permission has been explicitly granted by the copyright holder in terms of its use on a website like what we have here. An image which has been given a GFDL or CC-by-SA license is certainly acceptable. What isn't acceptable is something merely copied from another random website or taken from another game. As for somebody putting an image on photobucket, it no longer is our concern for the most part, as photobucket can (and does) delete images for which permission hasn't been given. Officially we should discourage such practice as it still is a copyright violation. Fair use does not apply to signatures, as it isn't critical commentary or any permissible application of fair-use. If that implies that we need to be a little more lenient on "personal images" such as something like this ( ), yes we may have to allow some contributors to this wiki a little more freedom on "personal images". This is something that the RS Wiki is not getting correct and there is illegal copyright violation happening on that website. As for Jagex's good-faith licensing of their images, I'm fine with that to an extent. The only real concern in the clause which I have is that they can revoke their license at any time for any reason with no legal recourse. That is their "right" so far as it is, but I don't want to have Jagex dictating the editorial policies on this website. If we stick with strict application of fair-use and apply the standard fair-use doctrine consistently and legally, we don't even need to worry about what terms or conditions that Jagex may or may not permit images from their products as what we are doing is without their permission in the first place. Clearly acknowledging the source of the image as coming from Jagex is an essential feature of fair-use as well, to put the image into context for how it was originally presented. I think that request from Jagex is reasonable and legally required anyway. --Robert Horning 16:17, January 13, 2010 (UTC) :I expect as long as we don't encourage rule-breaking or reveal confidential information, we won't have any problem with Jagex. That's a point actually - I think we should have a policy on the rules of War of Legends (when they're known) and on how we approach confidential information. Personally, I think we should avoid posting confidential information on the wiki, not least because it would be hard/impossible to verify anyway. Quartic ~ insanity is a virtue | Talk 16:36, January 13, 2010 (UTC) ::Off Topic - In what way do you mean 'confidential information' are you thinking about? 03:13, January 14, 2010 (UTC) :::For example, any of the information from the pmod centre, or any information from the hall of heroes forum on FunOrb. Basically, any information Jagex don't share in a publicly accessible place. Quartic ~ insanity is a virtue | Talk 09:12, January 14, 2010 (UTC) ::::I said my piece on w:c:runescape:RuneScape:Yew Grove/Respecting classified information. If you want to see this topic debated, I'd be willing to rehash that argument all over again, but I think it ought to be on its own thread. Other than legitimate fair-use copying of content and trade secret laws, the publication of "confidential information" is irrelevant to copyright issues or the law. We can certainly debate the merits of what should happen if somebody violates their non-disclosure agreement and publishes a trade secret. Then again, as a wiki, we are not liable for any consequence that happens in that situation. For myself, I think it is silly and even to an extent unfair to the player community that we can't really know the rules that we are operating under, which is the only real information I think that Jagex is paranoid about players knowing that would apply to publication on this wiki. We certainly don't need to know specific details about individual users or why they got banned or not, which is what I suppose would be 99% of all of the "confidential" information that a moderator would be really dealing with anyway that would be genuinely confidential. Leaking details about upcoming content by players who have signed no such non-disclosure is not revealing confidential information. --Robert Horning 10:37, January 14, 2010 (UTC)